dagies

Earlier this season I wouldn't have guessed I would be gushing over a win against sconnie but you take what you need..... Great job by the team. They proved they haven't given up. They worked through the adversity of dominating the other team early and not having much of a lead. Goon, what did Ranfranz have, 2 goals in about 6 shots or something? I didn't listen so maybe I'm off there, but Blais can't allow that on the ice. The rest of the team deserves a goalie that can stop the puck 9 of 10 times. I think Blais had to make the chance. If Ranfranz is having an off night, they can't afford another loss right now. The team NEEDED a win at all costs. Spiewak, dinged up tire and STILL manages to pot 2 goals. He's the man! Like seeing McMahon score. Sounds like Fylling had a good game. This sounds good all around. Way to go Sioux!

Nothing else matter. Just win baby. Just win.

These tickets appear to be spoken for. FYI

I was thinking, reading that article, about Prpich. Mike came in with monster penalty numbers in juniors. Monster. I was one who wondered if this guy would be able to put that behind him and play good hockey. Well, I'm wondering no more. About Greene, I don't get the "toughness" aspect with his penalty numbers. I know the guy can play physical, but these don't strike me as intimidation type penalties. Seems to me he gets a lot of ticky-tack penalties like cross-checks and hookings and trippings. I don't see that (well, maybe the cross-checks) as intimidating the opposition. I see it as putting them at the advantage.

I remember watching a game at Mariucci at the beginning of the season in 2000? and Roche and Leinweber were defensive pairs. My buddy and I thought they were the best pairing on the ice that night. Sitting at the regional in Mariucci in 2000 and watching Notermann and Spiewak absolutely shut down the competition on the penalty kill was amazing. We sat there thinking, "we got these guys for 3 more years!". Spiewak didn't score bunches of goals but seemed to come up big the playoffs. Notermann always busting his ass, interrupting the opponents, playing physical, never backing down, always burning wherever he went.... I have tried to watch the guys skating this year too, and I have to agree that Leinweber appears to me to be SO fluid and easy on his skates. Ah. Great memories of guys we will miss so much next year. One thing I like about college hockey is the chance to see new faces each year, and to watch how people progress. One thing I hate is seeing some of my favorites have to leave. GO SENIORS! Thanks for all the fun!

I think Blais' quote about Hale pretty much puts to rest any thoughts of David coming back and playing this year. Obviously it would be nice to have him on the ice, but the important thing is David's well being, and as mentioned before, it's good to hear there isn't any undue pressure from the coaches on David to play before he is ready. You know if it is weighing on Ryan, it's going to be affecting other members of the team as well. Ryan and David, from all accounts I have read on this board are well thought of by the rest of the team, so mentally there must be some impact on most everyone.

A buddy of mine sent me this message. If you are interested, email me and I will get you in touch.

YaneA - AMEN! I was going to post about where the INCH site lists where the Sioux could play in a regional but frankly, they gotta win now to even worry about that. My focus is on WI this weekend. I'm not going to look any farther forward than the next game. A month ago it was inconceivable to me that this team could not have home ice for the playoffs. So, I know I don't play the games, but for now I'm only going to take it one game at a time. (As for CC, the INCH site has them as the #1 in Mpls)

I have a co-worker who is a SCSU fan. We were talking about the Morelands and he said jake would probably tell Kasey to stay AWAY from SCSU. He could have been joking, but you don't see a lot of brother combo's there either.

Funny you mention this. I bought a ticket at the DECC last year. I sat in the middle of the old folks section. The people right next to me were all pretty great, but the old gal and geezer in front of me were big fans. Well, the gal anyway. The geezer didn't move a muscle for the whole game. The old gal turned around and very clearly warned me away from cheering for my team too loudly. I'm not complaining, it was pretty funny. But she WOULD have kicked my ass.

I agree with pretty much everything you say, jk. And I don't think this team has a lot of "slackers" that need to move on. Maybe they just need a little more offensive, goal scoring talent.

amen

I agree, Sic. I think that Saturday game at Mankato showed the fans what Blais probably sees in practice. It would explain his reticence to rely on Marc earlier, and also why we may not have seen him this past weekend. Hey, I'm not goalie coach, never played, so who am I to comment as if I know anything, but I'll say this. I was at the first game at Mankato. Ranfranz only let in a couple goals so who is to complain, but there were some scary saves. For instance, in one case he's facing the shooter. Ranny stood there as the puck came at him. He didn't close the pads just watched it come in and hit his one leg pad. On another occasion the puck was slowly sliding right to him. Instead of closing up and protecting the net he swipes at it, sort of like he one-timed it. If he misses, it goes right in. Now I have watched him play against CC and was very impressed. So my point is that he is either very good, or maybe very lucky. I'm not trying to be critical but there is a reason Blais isn't playing him all the time, and that Saturday night against Mankato might be more of what Blais sees in practice than we have seen in game play. If so, that might account for why he hasn't been playing.

I'm not holding my breath. With all due respect to drone, who could be Coach Blais for all I know, we've all seen "reliable sources" quoted on the internet, more often than not they are wrong. Time will bear out whether this will or won't be the case. I for one won't think much about it until something more "official" comes to light. Drone, I'm not trying to dis you. But we have no history with you to know how credible your info is.

I watched about the last 2 periods as Senser's. Some thoughts: 1 replay showed Bochenski's stick looking high. A second replay view made it look close either way. Hopefully Schmidt made the right call. I'll say that with the second view it would be hard to wave that goal off it was so close. I'm as down on this season now as I have been as a fan. I was crushed with Siembida let that last goal in. I'm no goalie expert but man, that guy made a half-assed shot fake and Siembida went right down, all he had to do was skate around him. Fans, this guy was no Travis Roche. It was brutal. BUT The only reason we were in this position was Jones fell and that broke the UMD player open. How many times during this bad streak have we watched/read about/listened about a d-man falling and turning over the puck. I think 3 times (Leinweber, Greene, Jones). If that doesn't happen, we might have a couple of wins instead of losses. My point is, we NEED the goalie that can make the stop, but if it wasn't for Jones falling, Josh isn't in that position with 2 minutes left in the game. Once again, you can't lay ALL the blame with the goalies. But Josh has to take his share today, for sure. Here is what I am holding on to tonite: This team STILL has not given up, IMO. I thought they might get handled today, but they didn't. They haven't been really manhandled yet by any team, even though we haven't won in forever. Today's second period started to look like the second period of one game in Duluth last year, where the team just lost their composure, and seemed to lose their drive. I said to people at the bar if the Sioux get down a 1-2 more goals the game might get ugly. It already looked close to leading to a brawl. The 3rd period opens and what happens? Hale, Connelly and Prpich forecheck like crazy and keep the puck in the offensive zone for about a minute or more. Duluth can't get out of their zone, even the the Sioux don't control the puck. Finally Connelly gets the puck and as he breaks to the net he gets hauled down. PP Sioux. I thought they might go through the motions but that wasn't the case at all, IMO. Duluth went into Sprig's hated prevent D and the Sioux just went crazy. They kept working and even AFTER the 3 UMD goal they were still working very hard. I do get concerned that the boys will just give up. But so far, I haven't seen evidence of that. As for bad luck, puck luck, bounces etc. That stuff you can use as excuses for a couple 3 games but that stuff evens itself out. This team might be working hard but maybe they are lacking confidence, or as someone said today, holding their sticks a bit too tight. I thought maybe the nooses were a bit loose around the necks after we tied the game, but I think Josh felt his tighten up. I feel really bad for Josh. He didn't want this to happen. He wants to play well and we all know it. But he isn't getting it done. The boys have to find some fun in this game right now.

You know, I am going to comment on this after all. I can see where your comment comes from. On the other hand, I think this year Blais has really tried, at least from how he handles the goalies publicly, to user a lighter glove. For instance, he gave Josh quite a run this fall. During that time Josh was pretty average, but Blais was very complimentary during post games interviews etc, and kept putting him out there. After Christmas I believe Brandt had a similar run of games. In both cases, neither really gave stellar performances. Which is why there is so much criticism on the internet. Now, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors. But publicly I think Blais has tried to show a lot of support.

Yes, I also didn't give Mankato much credit either. I guess I've been "exposed". Jutting and that team have done a great job.

I'm with jk. Roll the lines. Play Canady and Connelly, those guys bring a lot of effort.

Federov, I intentially added the winking smiley to avoid giving the impression I was being overly critical. It was a joke, and I made it out of fun but at the same time trying to communicate I didn't agree with you. No need to get upset. I apologize that my intentions weren't clear.

Someone ban this guy

What's up with the weird home-away schedules..... I think we'll be putting the cupcake talk to bed next year. Obviously this year is an aberation. Anyone have any ideas on who might be here for the Holiday tourney?

I had forgotten about this little interesting incident last week in Mankato, Friday night. The puck is in the Mankato zone. Don't remember if it was a Sioux PP or not. Mankato clears the puck down the ice, on net. Ranfranz stoops to stop the puck, and suddenly another puck is flopping through the crease. It looked to us like it popped out of his equipment. Now there are 2 pucks on the ice to the left of Ranny. He's looking around confused. Soon the refs figger it out and blow the whistle. I was thinking, where the heck could that puck have been in his equipment where he didn't know it. Then a couple of minutes later they announce to the crowd if they throw another puck on the ice it's a Mankato penalty. That's a new one for me.

Thanks, GDM. I didn't like it when someone from another board did the exact same thing last year to regarding this board. I didn't think it was appropriate then and I don't condone it if we do the same.

Frying bacon, onions sauteeing in butter, fresh leather chamois. Some of life's simple pleasures...... Greene has been drafted by Edmonton.